


It's An Eagle, Not a Raven!

by Oddree13



Series: OMGCP Advent Calendar [1]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Fluff, Gift Exchange, Hogwarts Houses, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-08 23:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12875556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oddree13/pseuds/Oddree13
Summary: This was not the way it was supposed to happen. There were twenty players on the team after all, so the odds of pulling his name should have been slim right? But no. With the luck Will had, it was no wonder that he had pulled Nursey’s name out of the hat.





	It's An Eagle, Not a Raven!

**Author's Note:**

> For the first day of the OMGCP Winter Extravaganza! Prompt - Gift Exchange

This was not the way it was supposed to happen. There were twenty players on the team after all, so the odds of pulling _his_ name should have been slim right? But no. With the luck Will had, it was no wonder that he had pulled Nursey’s name out of the hat.

To make matters worse, he was standing in the middle of the kitchen with the rest of the team, listening to Bitty explain the parameters of the gift exchange, and having to do his best not to combust on the spot. As soon as the explanation was over (twenty-five dollar limit, nothing offensive, and it must be wrapped), Dex took the stairs two at a time to his room, and shredded the offending evidence as soon as the door was closed.

How was he supposed to pick a gift for Nursey? Nursey was the kind of guy who bought himself what he needed, and what he did buy was way out of Dex’s price range. One time Nursey had been wearing a sweater that Dex had actually liked for himself, and, curious, he had looked up the label. Needless to say it cost about as much as some of his hockey equipment.

But the greater issue was that Dex’s crush on Nursey had only grown since living together. He needed to figure out a gift that didn’t say “I love you, please date me” but rather was a simple “Hey I got your name, here you go.”

Walking over to his desk, he sat down, and tried to not turn around as Nursey entered their shared room.

“Dex, Dex, I’m going to need your help with the secret santa thing. I got Tango and I’ve no idea what to do.”

With an audible sigh, Dex swiveled his chair to look at Nursey with a raised brow. “First off, what part of secret do you not understand. Second of all, it’s been all of five minutes, so you can’t be panicking yet. If you can’t come up with something by the end of the week I’ll help,” he offered, knowing that Tango wouldn’t be hard to buy for.

Giving Dex a series of unimpressed faces, Nursey flopped down on his bed asking, “Who did you get?”

“Again Derek, the key element of this activity is the word ‘secret’ which I don’t think you’re getting,” he reiterated, turning back around in case his face gave anything away.

Lucky for Dex, Nursey left the subject alone for now, which let Dex panic in silence as he stared at his homework.

 

***

Four days later and Dex couldn’t come up with a gift. He’d tried everything - general browsing, listicles, even pinterest. Nothing.

Then, as luck would have it, Nurse spent the night complaining about the lack of Ravenclaw merchandise in proper colors.

“The books say blue and bronze, and I get that the combination doesn’t look the best on screen, but come on! Also, who the fuck thought it would be better to change the mascot. It’s an eagle, how dope it that,” he exclaimed, as he stared at the top of his bunk, worn copy of Order of the Phoenix by his side. Dex for his part was coding and unsure of why he was being told this.

“Why am I supposed to care again?” he asked, swiveling his chair to look over at Nursey.

“Because the books are better than the movies, Poindexter, and my sister and I are going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter during New Year's and I’m going to be stuck with inaccurate merchandise options,” he sighed, lolling his head to the side to return to his book.

“Right,” Dex dragged out, as he looked back at the screen, his mind turning. Thankful that his monitor didn’t face the beds, Dex opened up the yarn site his sisters favored and began to look through colors. Soon he had purchased yarn enough for at least a scarf that was still under the price limit.

***  
It was the day before the gift exchange. Dex was seated at the library, knitting under the table as he watched a recorded class lecture in preparation for midterms. With his headphones on, he didn’t notice when Nursey sat down across from him until the other hockey player had unplugged his head phones.

“What the fuck, Nurse,” he hissed, keeping his voice low because of their location.

“I feel like I haven't seen you in over a week...and we share a room,” he tagged on, looking annoyed.

“I’ve been busy,” he shrugged, pausing the video and making sure to keep his knitting under the desk.

“What have you been busy with?”

Sensing that he might not be able to get out of this so easily, Dex just told him the truth. Well most of it.

“I’ve been making my secret santa their gift and you are a horrible secret keeper so I wanted to work on it away from the room so it wouldn’t get spoiled.”

“Rude. I’m great with secrets,” Nursey scoffed, indignant.

“You told me within five minutes of getting Tango’s name that you got him,” he replied. Nursey gaped for a bit before settling down.

“But it’s tomorrow!” he squawked, drawing some shushes and glares from people around them.

“Then wait until tomorrow. Now go, I need to finish this lecture.”

“Fine, but you’re not that great at secrets either. I can at least tell you’re knitting,” he smirked as he walked out of the library, kicking the ball of yarn under the chair.

Bending under the table to pick up the ball before it found it’s way under someone else’s work, Dex tucked the ball into his bag with a scowl and he began another row.

***  
The night of the exchange Dex sat by the tree, as he was designated gift distributor by Bitty as he was least likely to throw the gifts or withhold them from people, which had become an issue last year when their previous captains had placed a compliment tax on presents.

Once everyone had their gifts, people had to guess who had them for the exchange. For every incorrect guess they had to drink. This turned into quite a spectacle as Tango couldn’t decide who to guess so he just went clockwise around the circle. It took him seven people before landing on Nursey. Chowder got Sharks gear which he loved, but he was also left him several drinks in before figuring out his gifter.

Dex for his part opened up his gift and found a nice engraved pocket knife, whose blade was just at the legal limit for Massachusetts. Without hesitation he looked at his captain as he flicked it open. “Thanks, Bitty,” he beamed, knowing that the smaller man had a similar one in his bag at all time, a fact which startles some of the team.

When it got to Nursey, Dex watched from his seat beside the tree nervous. He hoped that Nursey at least liked it, and would be too excited to read too much into it.

As Nursey opened the box, and pulled away the tissue, his eyes lit up. “This. Is. Perfect!” he exclaimed, pulling it out of the box and wrapping it immediately around his neck. Most of the team was confused by the enthusiasm thinking that Nurse was just really excited about a scarf. It wasn’t until he settled down and began to look around that his eyes landed on Dex.

“Dex?” he asked, hopeful.

“Yeah. Found it online after your rant,” he half-lied, at least the yarn itself came from the internet.

Bitty ended their reveal by pointing at the next person. It wasn’t until later when they were back in the room that Nursey cornered him.

“You didn’t get this online. I saw you knitting something in the library, remember?”

“I got the yarn online,” Dex shrugged, trying to move around his defense partner.

“You knitted me a proper Ravenclaw scarf for the winter,” he smiled, looking at Dex softly.

“Well you had a lot of feelings about colors, and I had skills to fix it,” he replied, blushing, and still stuck between the wall and his partner.

“You know between the red hair and knitting skills I’d think you were a Weasley, but I know better,” he teased, inching a bit closer.

“Is that so?”

“Because you, my dear Dex, are a hardworking Hufflepuff. Loyal to a fault and dedicated to making this team work. You balance me out.” Taking a step closer, Dex saw Nursey’s eyes flick down to his lips.

“Can I kiss you?”

Dex nodded, unsure of what he heard. It wasn’t until Nursey had looped the scarf around both their necks, and pressed their lips together, that Dex knew he wasn’t making it up.

“Happy Holidays, Will,” Nursey beamed as he pulled back, looking bashful.

“Happy Holidays, Derek.”

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: I had my own friend gift exchange on December 2nd, and wrote this fic a few days before. I, like Nursey, had been lamenting the lack of Ravenclaw merch in proper colors. Guess what I got? A hand-knitted scarf in proper colors from my friend who'd been listening to my rant!


End file.
